Dry battery.



7 BATENTED APR.132, 1904. V

, A. F. SWAN & A. W. ROSEL- DRY BATTERY.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 22, 1903.

H0 IODEL.

WITNESSES. V Arm/es. QA m @m k A TTORNEY.

UNITED STATES Patented April 12, 1904.

l ATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED F. SWAN, OF BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY, AND ALLEN ROSE, OF

NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORS OF ONE-HALF TO PATENT DEVELOP- MENT COMPANY OF AMERICA, OF NEW YORK.

OF NEW YORK, N. Y, A CORPORATION DRY BATTERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 757,422, dated April 12, 1904.

Application filed-Tilly 22, 1903. Serial No. 166,518. (No nodel.)

T on whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALFRED F. SWAN, of Bayonne, Hudson county, and State of New Jersey, andALLEN W. Rose, of the city, county,

and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Dry Battery, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Our invention relates to improvements in dry batteries; and the object of our invention I0 is to produce a cheap, simple, and particularly compact battery, the primary idea being to get the comparatively large number of cells in the smallest possible space, to the end that the battery may be conveniently used for many purposes where it would be inconvenient to use'the same number of cells when constructed in the ordinary manner.

For many purposes-such, for instance, as

running an electric fan or asparker for gasengines-it is inconvenient to assemble a sufficient quantity of ordinary independent cells,

because they are bulky and easily displaced,

and for these and other uses we have provided a battery in which the large number of cells are arranged compactly in a single case and form practically a single battery. With these ends in view instead of using the ordinary cylindrical structure'we make a case which is preferably rectangular and have the battery elements ali in parallel relation and preferably forming a series of transverse partitions across the case. This arrangement, it will be observed, makes it possible to bring the terminals of the battery elements into very close connection, so that'by a simple switch it is very easy to shift the'connection of the elementsthat is to say, if a Zinc or pair of zinc elements are in connection with a carbon it is a simple matter to switch over, so that 40 other zinc elements will be cut in and the original ones cutout, so that the first-mentioned elements can have opportunity to recuperate.

Another advantage of this form of structure is that it is easily handled and is especially strong, all of which will appear from the description to follow.

With these ends in view our invention consists of certain. featuresof construction and combinations of parts, which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters and figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views. 4

Figure 1 is a vertical cross-section on line 1 1 of Fig. 2 of our improved battery. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the battery, and Fig. 8 is a diagram of a switching arrangement which can be used. V

In carrying out our invention we make a case .10,preferably of wood and rectangular, though the material can of course be varied, andjthe case can be provided with a suitable lidor cover, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. This case is divided by avvertical partition 11 to form two cells; but it is clear that any number of partitions may be used to form any required number of cells. The elements of the battery are preferably straight and are placed inparallel relation, and obviously the same result is attained as if the ordinary cylindrical forms were used; but the battery is much more compact and stronger if it is made to comprise a plurality. of cells. In carrying out this idea, beginning at the right in Fig. 1, we use a zinc element 12, which extends entirely across the case and has a terminal or connecting lug 12, having the usual binding-screw connection and extending above the normal level of the battery. Next to the zinc comes a layer of plaster-ofparis 13 and then a partition of pasteboard 14 'or other similar substance which will keep the plaster from actual contact with the active material 15, which is of any usual kind and fills the space between the cardboard 14 and the carbon element 16. This carbon element forms also a partition in the case and extends entirely across the case. It has an upwardly projecting connecting terminal 16, having the usual binding-screw attachment. On the other or second side of the carbon is another layer of active material 15, then :another layer of cardboard or pasteboard 14:, then another layer of plaster-of-paris 13, and finally another zinc element 12, which lies 

